Elgin National Watch Company

Watch Serial Numbers and Production History

Exact match found! Movement serial number 23933654.click here for a large view of this image.

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Elgin Serial Number 23933654

Elgin serial number 23933654 is a grade 303, 12 size, 7 jewels, made about 1921. Open faced movement (this applies to the movement, not the case the watch happens to be in). Three-quarter plate design. Pendent wind and set.

When looking at photos of pocketwatches here and elsewhere online, you may or may not see watches that outwardly appear like yours. This is because the watch movement, inside, and the case do not go together in any way. Elgin never made pocketwatch cases. In those days, the common practice was that a customer would pick out a movement and a case separately at the shop and the watchmaker or jeweler would assemble them together. Also, for early wristwatches, there is no distinction in the movement. A small watch may be cased either way, as a pocketwatch or a wristwatch. So the outside of these watches just reflects the selection of the original buyer, or a case a watch has been moved to over its history. Keep this in mind when comparing your watch to others.

More Images of This Grade

Click for a full size version of an image. Note that some of these may be quite large. Also, hand, dial and case styles may vary as these were often a matter of personal preference . Like other American watch companies, for most of its history Elgin did not make watch cases, only bare movements. In those days a customer selected the movement and the case separately at the retailer.

The National Watch Company, later known as the Elgin National Watch Company, was founded at the end of the Civil War, in 1864, in Elgin, Illinois. The company's first model was a large, 18 size, movement priced at $117, which was a high price for that time. Between 1867 and sometime in the 1960s when domestic manufacturing tappered off, Elgin made 10s of millions of pocket and wrist watches. The Elgin National Watch Company went completely out of business in 1968. Even though it had been, for a time, one of the largest industrial concerns in the world, today many people have no idea that America was once the world leader in quality timepieces.

Using this site you can learn a good deal about your antique Elgin watch. The serial number on the watch works, called the 'movement', can be used to look up production information on watches made by the Elgin National Watch Company. Numbers on any part of the watch case, such as a serial number on the inside of the back cover, is a number that goes with the watch case only, and reveals nothing about the watch movement. Elgin did not make pocketwatch cases. The watches were sold as bare movements only. Customers selected their watch cases separately at the retail shop, so the important number is inside on the mechanical part of the watch. Enter your watch movement's serial number and click 'Search' to lookup the watch.

Elgin watch serial numbers begin with their earliest watch, number 101, a B. W. Raymond model made in 1867, and range up to just over 50,000,000. Some later serial numbers begin with a single letter. If you have one of these, check here for more information. In the later years, Elgin sold imported movements, mostly Swiss. Many of these are not marked with a serial number and so little can be said about those individual pieces. This database contain far less information on later models.

Our knowledge today of the year of manufacture of Elgin movements is quite good, but still should be taken with a grain of salt. There is conflicting information on many details. Also, Elgin frequently made, and numbered, plates which were stocked for later use - sometimes years later. The information presented here is frequently updated with notes on exceptions, anomolies, private labels and details of specific movements.